Pastor Mark Driscoll: Even atheists understand this

Man: I’m not a religious person. But don’t you guys find it weird that Christianity and believing in God is like the taboo or weird thing to do? People can mock Christianity, but God forbid somebody attacks like the Muslim religion. Call me crazy, but no matter what religion you are, even if you’re an atheist worshipping Satan, I’m not sure why that’s on the top of “it’s fine” list.

Pastor Mark Driscoll: As soon as you get to Jesus Christ, everything changes. It has a supernatural divine power. At a job site, you don’t see a dude hit their thumb with a hammer and scream “Allah,” but he will take the Lord’s name in vain. Even if you don’t understand Jesus Christ, even if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, there is something authoritative and confrontational about the name of Jesus Christ. That’s why there’s a constant attack on Christianity in a way there isn’t happen with other religions. Because other religions have got demons, but they don’t have God, so they don’t have the same level of authority.

Pastor Mark Driscoll, “Even atheists understand this” (2024)

In this clip, there’s not a lot to cover here because the coverage may or may not be real and the critique isn’t much. On a cultural and historical, Christianity has been so dominant in Western societies.

Its dominance in culture, history, and politics, left it unchallenged. As numbers declined or simultaneous with it, criticism of Christianity and other religions became more available, because of its ideological dominance. Mockery is part of the First Amendment in the US.

Plenty of people criticize Christianity and Islam. In fact, particularly Dr. Sam Harris and Dr. Richard Dawkins have spent a larger portion of time critiquing Islam or “the Muslim religion” over others, they’re far from minor figures in critical voices about Christianity.

Also, they’re missing the nuance about individual background. Most of the online voices critquing religion came out of a North American milieu, which has a Christian dominance. It is the proverbial waters upon which to critique religion.

Those individual differences can make it seem as if the hyper focus is on Christianity. It’s proportionate to the population background more often than not. It’s not an accident critics of Islam come out of Muslim-majority countries, e.g., Armin Navabi and others.

It’s ironic to see a self-defensiveness about criticisms of Christianity when openly in all translations and version of the holy books of Christianity; there is the open claim all those who do not believe in God are “fools” — let alone derivatives including damned to eternal, everlasting torment. Isn’t that hate literature worse than light mockery of Christian ideology?

Besides, not many say it’s fine. It’s merely a fact: It’s being done. That’s different than sanctioned.